Integrative transcriptome meta-analysis reveals widespread sex-biased gene expression at the human fetal-maternal interface.

ABSTRACT: As males and females share highly similar genomes, the regulation of many sexually dimorphic traits is constrained to occur through sex-biased gene regulation. There is strong evidence that human males and females differ in terms of growth and development in utero and that these divergent growth strategies appear to place males at increased risk when in sub-optimal conditions. Since the placenta is the interface of maternal-fetal exchange throughout pregnancy, these developmental differences are most likely orchestrated by differential placental function. To date, progress in this field has been hampered by a lack of genome-wide information on sex differences in placental gene expression. Therefore, our motivation in this study was to characterize sex-biased gene expression in the human pl

SUBMITTER: Buckberry S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4106635 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature